When I was 26 years old, I was diagnosed with severe PMS. It was so severe, the doctor who diagnosed me said out of all the women who have PMS, only 10% have it as badly as I did. She went on to tell me that out of those ten percent, 99% of women are one of three things. In jail. In a mental institution. Or DEAD.
I had lived 10 years with it - or tried to. There were many hospitalizations and multiple (wrong) diagnoses. I could not keep going the way I was, and thank God every day for a correct diagnosis, even if it took 10 years.
The treatment was simple. Progesterone, compounded by a local pharmacy. It quite literally saved my life.
Today, almost 40 years later, I am in menopause. Suffering from crippling body pains, exhaustion and depression, I again found a doctor who did blood work that showed I have virtually no estrogen in my system, and very little progesterone. Again, a compounding pharmacy is improving my life, filling a prescription for bio-identical hormone replacement.
In less than a week of starting treatment, the pain in my joints and muscles has been reduced by 75%. I'm not sitting still all day because of pain. I am able to do things again, and feel like I've gotten my life back.
For me, having a compound pharmacy available isn't a convenience. It's a life saving necessity. Were this not available to me, I would NOT BE ALIVE.